Little Sister
by LoveJoeyForever
Summary: Specs and her little sister, Lorelei, are complete oppisties.  When Specs's parents go off the planet for a week, Specs is forced to have Lorelei stay with her on the starship.  Spayonder at places3
1. Big News

Big News

Specs woke up at 6:00 in the morning, as usual, got out of bed, dressed, and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair. It seemed like a pretty normal morning. She walked back into her room to get her shoes, and was about to leave when her video phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered uncertainly. It had been months since she'd gotten a call.

"Hiya, sweetie!" came the perky voice of her mom.

"Um, hello, Mother," Specs said. "Why are you calling?" Her mom stepped into view, and looked perfectly normal. Big, brown eyes, brown hair, and light skin.

"I just wanted to let you know that-" someone cut her mom off.

"Hi, Julia!" came the horribly farmiliar voice of her little sister, Lorelei.

"Lorelei, don't interupt. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that your father and I are going off the planet for a week, so Lorelei's going to stay with you on the Starship!" her mom said.

_"What?"_ Specs gasped. "No, no, no, no, no. She can _not_ stay here! I have work to do!"

"Well, you're just going to have to find a way to work around that," her mom reasoned.

"Um-um-uh," Specs stuttered, trying to think of a valid excuse. "Commander Up won't let her stay here!"

"Of corse he will, I already talked to him!" her mom giggled.

"Damn you, Up," Specs said to herself. "Oh, fine. When's she getting here?"

"In three hours. We're dropping her off," her mom said, smiling sweetly.

"Alright, bye," Specs grumbled.

"Bye, sweetie," her mom said.

"Bye, Julia!" Lorelei yelled. And with that, the connection cut off, and Specs slumped down to the cafeteria for breakfast. When she got there, she got some eggs and sat down with Krayonder, who was waiting at their usual table.

"Hey, you," he smiled as she sat down.

"Hello," she sighed.

"What's wrong?" Krayonder asked, looking troubled.

"Nothing..." she looked at him and knew she couldn't lie to him. "Well, my parents are dropping off my little sister here in three hours."

"Woah! You have a little sister?" he asked, eyes full of wonder.

"Yeah, and we're complete opposites," she said.

"What'd you mean?" he asked.

"Well, for one thing, she's all perky and bubbly, and I'm shy and calm. She wears skirts and blouses, she's ten, she doesn't understand science at all, and she's annoying," Specs finished, panting.

Krayonder stared, wide-eyed. "Wow, you _are_ complete opposties. Well, I'm sure she can't be that bad, right?"

"Oh, yes she can. And what if she doesn't like you?" Specs asked.

"Well, I'll make her love her big sister's boyfriend," Krayonder smiled. Specs smiled, and leaned her shoulder against him.

"Thank you," she laughed. "Oh, look! There's Up! I'm gonna go ask him why he agreed to have her stay."

"Have fun," he watched her walk away. Specs rushed up to him and caught him by the shoulder.

"Um, Commander?" she asked in a slightly timid voice.

"Now, Specs, I told you to call me Up," he said in his gravely voice.

"Sorry, Com- Up. I was just wondering, um, why you said it was okay to have my little sister stay with us?" she asked, saluting him.

"Oh, well, she needed a place to stay, we don't have much to do, and she's your family," Up reasoned.

"Okay...um, I guess I just don't really feel comfortable with it, since we don't exactly see eye to eye," Specs sighed, desperation setting in.

"Well, we'll all help you through it, Specs," Up smiled his big, whole-hearted smile. With that, he walked away. Specs slouched back to the table, but cheered up when she saw Krayonder pretending his knife was a zapper and 'shooting' his eggs. Maybe he would be good with kids after all...

Three hours later, Specs, Krayonder, and the rest of the crew waited by the air-lock doors for Lorelei. Five minutes later, the door opened, and, for the first time since she had started her mission as a Starship Ranger, Specs saw her parents and her little sister.

_"Julia!"_ her mom cried, and ran to hug her.

"Julia?" Krayonder questioned.

"My real name," Specs sighed.

"Oh..." Krayonder looked confused.

"Mom, Dad, Lorelei, this is Krayonder," she said. "my boyfriend." Her family gasped, and then Lorelei giggled.

"Oooohoooo! Julia's got a boyfriend, Julia's got a boyfirend!" she chanted.

"You have a _boyfriend_?" her dad gasped. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I-uh-" Specs started.

"Oh, Julia! Congratulations!" her mom hugged her again.

"Er-thanks..." she gasped for breath.

"Well, we'd better be off," her dad glanced at his watch. "You girls have fun!" There was a chorus of bye's from the Rangers and Specs's family.

Now that she looked at Lorelei, she noticed how different she really looked. She was taller, and very beautiful. She had light skin like her mother, long, brown hair, and striking green eyes. She wore skinny jeans and a black tank-top with the Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration logo in it.

"Look, Julia! I dressed for the occasion!" she gestured at the shirt.

"Um, great..." she said, feeling awkward already.

"So, this is your ten-year-old sister, huh, Specs? She's adorable," Krayonder smiled.

"Um, okay, like, first of all, I'm thirteen. Second of all, who's Specs? And third of all, thank you!" she said with a dazzling smile.

"Wait, you're thirteen now?" Specs gasped.

"Um, like, duh," Lorelei smiled.

"This is Specs," Krayonder said, pointing to Specs. "It's her nickname."

"Oh! Okay..." She looked a bit confused. "So, 'Specs', where do I put my stuff?"

Up stepped forward. "Well, Lorelei, I've set up a room just for your visit. Taz will lead you there."

"Cool! I get my own room!" she cheered. "Show me the way, Taz!" As they started to walk away, Specs called after her.

"Um, Lorelei! Meet me in the cafeteria after you put your stuff down!" she called.

"Kk! Taz can show me the way, right?" Lorelei asked.

"Okay," Taz said in her thick spanish accent.

"Well, I think I made a pretty good first impression," Krayonder said as Tootsie, Megagirl, Bug, February, and Up filtered out.

"Yeah," Specs said, feeling a bit down that she had missed her little sister's last three birthdays.

"So, 'Julia', wanna go get a snack?" he asked playfully.

"Definatly. But, one thing," she grabbed his shoulder.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Don't call me 'Julia'," she laughed.


	2. Catching Up

Catching Up

Specs and Krayonder sat in the cafeteria, waiting for Lorelei and sharing a plate of fruit. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Lorelei stepped in, looking around. She spotted Specs and ran toward her.

"Hey, Julia!" she cried as she sat down in the chair opposite Specs and Krayonder. For a moment, they sat in awkward silence and were spared by Tootsie coming over.

"Hey, Krayonder? Uh, this is mighty embarresing and all, but could you teach me how to use this thingy?" he asked in his country accent and holding up a zapper. "I forgot again."

Krayonder laughed and glanced at Specs, his eyes asking if he should.

"Go ahead," Specs smiled. "I should get some alone time with my little sister." Krayonder got up, said bye, and walked off with Tootsie.

"So, Julia..." Lorelei said, putting her chin in her hands. "What's with the name 'Specs'?"

"Oh, um, it's a funny story, actually," Specs smiled as she remembered the day her and Krayonder had first met. "Krayonder and I had been assigned to the same mission, and didn't know what my name was. He walked up to me and we started talking. When he realized he didn't know my name, he just called me 'Specs' because of my glasses. It just sort of stuck I suppose."

"Oh, cool..." Lorelei smiled.

"So... you really are turning out to be a really pretty young woman," Specs said, at a loss for words. To her surprise, Lorelei laughed.

"C'mon, Ju-Specs... You don't have to be all awkward. Not that much has changed. Just talk like you used to," she said, her eyes sparkling.

"Um, okay... So, what's with the new style change?" Specs asked, remembering Lorelei as a little 10-year-old, wearing her old jeans and worn-out tee-shirt, brown hair in pigtails, braces, and glasses a lot like Specs's.

"Oh, you like it? I guess I just, like, needed a change... One morning, I looked in the mirror and thought, 'I look stupid.' So I asked, well, begged, Mom to let me get my braces off, and I got contacts, and me and some friends went shopping. It was a bit odd at first, but I adjusted," she smiled.

"Interesting," Specs said, nodding.

"So," Lorelei said, a sly look in her eyes.

"So what?" Specs was suddnely slightly afraid.

"So Krayonder," she smiled. "Your boyfriend." Specs instantly felt her face go bright red. She hadn't been looking forward to this conversation.

"Juli-Specs, look, I think it's great that you have a boyfriend. We don't have to talk about that if you don't want to, though," Lorelei said, and Specs gave a sigh of relief. She didn't want to talk about it. "So, Jul-Specs, oh whatever, I'm just calling you Julia, what's it like being a Starship Ranger? Like, what do you do?"

Specs was slightly surprised at this bit of information. She didn't think that Lorelei was interested in this sort of thing. "Oh, well, it's a lot of work, but I love it. I'm the ship's main engineer. Basically, I make sure that the ship stays intact and that nothing blows up and that the computers keep working."

Lorelei stared at her with a look of confused entertainment on her face. "Okay, then." she said, and Specs giggled, realizing that Lorerlei probably hadn't understood a word she had just said.

"So, what planet are Mom and Dad off to?" Specs asked.

"Oh, uh, hold on, I remember this, um... Oh! Yeah, they're on Marma," Lorelei said, helping herself to a banana off the plate.

"Oh, interesting," Specs remembered the planet. It was small, but pretty. It was a lot like Florida, but the beaches were purple and the trees were orange. "We actually had a mission there about a year ago."

"Really?" Lorelei said around the banana. "What happened?"

"Well, some of the Marmans were tired of having the G.L.E.E. always 'checking up' on them, so they started hitting the League's bases with bombs. We had to go down to fix everything," Specs remembered the horrifying images of the burning remains of the bases, with flaming bodies scattered everywhere. She shivered.

"Really?" Lorelei asked, swallowing. "That's, like, so cool!" For the rest of the time they talked, Specs got more and more comfortable with Lorelei and Lorelei seemed to relax into the ship. Finally, February came into the cafeteria and found them still there.

"Hey, Specsy! Oh, hi, Lori!" she smiled, running over to sit with them.

"Oh, actually, it's Lorelei," Lorelei laughed. Now that Specs saw the two of them next to each other, she saw that they had very similar personalities.

"Oh, sorry! Anyway, you two might want to get to bed, it's, like, 10," Febrary laughed.

"Really? I guess you're right. Lorelei, do you remember the way to you're bedroom?" Specs asked, getting up and throwing away the now-empty plate.

"Um, I think so. Taz drew me a map, but, c'mon, I don't know how to use a map! But anyway, I'll find me way. G'night, Julia! G'night, January!" Lorelei said, heading toward the door.

"Um, it's February!" February called after her, and Lorelei turned and laughed.

"Yeah, I know," She smiled, and with that, left the cafeteria. Specs smiled and left behind her, leaving a confused February behind.


	3. Lorelei's Nightmare

Lorelei's Nightmare

Specs walked into her room and shut the door behind her. She fell onto the bed and her head hit something that wasn't a pillow. Fast as lightning, someone had grabbed her wrists behind her and covered her mouth with their hand. She tried to scream for help, but no sound came out. A head leaned in near her ear and whispered, "You should learn to check your room before you sleep." At this, she began to laugh. The person behind her laughed, too. He released her.

"Krayonder, you scared me!" she laughed, turning to face him.

"Yeah, I know," he smiled. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Anyway, how's Lorelei?"

"She's good," Specs answered. "She refuses to call me 'Specs' though. So, did you help Tootsie?"

Krayonder gave what was possibly the biggest groan she had ever heard. "Don't get me started. He almost blew my head off! Look at this!" He took his hat off and handed it to Specs. Right through the middle, there was a hole. Specs laughed.

"Wow. He really is clueless, isn't he?" She said, and Krayonder laughed.

"Hopeless," He replied.

"So, are you spending the night?" Specs asked playfully.

"Sure," he responded, pulling her closer. "You know I never deny an invitation." Specs giggled as he pulled her into a kiss. Twisting her fingers through his hair, they continued to kiss for ten more minutes. After that, Specs pulled on her pajamas, and Krayonder changed into a t-shirt. Specs climbed into bed, and Krayonder turned off the light and climbed in next to her. Within minutes, they were both asleep.

At around one, Specs heard knocking on her door. The person who was knocking was crying. She untangled herself from Krayonder and went to open the door. As soon as she did, someone small had flung her arms around Specs and was sobbing into her shoulder. At first, she had thought it was Taz, but why would Taz be crying to Specs? Better yet, why would Taz be crying at all? It was Lorelei, and she was sobbing uncontrolably.

"Lorelei? Lorelei, what's wrong?" Specs asked, turning on the lights and putting her arms around her. Krayonder had gotten up and was mouthing the words, "what's wrong?"

"I don't know," she mouthed back. "Lorelei, what's wrong?" She repeated, leading her sister over to the bed.

"Julia, it was awful!" She sobbed, looking at her. "Mom and D-Dad were g-gone and I c-c-couldn't find y-you!"

"Lorelei, it's okay, it was just a dream!" Specs tried to sooth her, stroking her hair.

"No, it was real!" she cried. "It was r-real and they g-got me! They were g-gonna k-k-kill me!"

Specs caught her shoulders and looked her right in the eyes. "Lorelei, look at me. Listen to me, okay? Nothing is ever going to hurt you. You will always be able to find me, and Mom and Dad will always be there for you. I promise you that. Who was trying to get you?"

"I d-don't know! They were big and in my room and they had knives! Julia, I don't wanna go back! Please let me stay here tonight! Please, please, please! I'm scared!" Lorelei sobbed again. Krayonder walked over to her and put his arm around Lorelei.

"Lorelei, listen, it was just a dream, okay? Nobody wants to hurt you! Well, Taz, but thats only if you get on her bad side. Take it from me, I know when you're on her bad side; wanna see the scars?" he smiled.

At this Lorelei smiled and sniffed. "Really? What, did she stab you?" Krayonder laughed.

"Repeatedly. Anyway, you're gonna be fine, okay?" he removed his arm and wiped a few tears from her face.

"Um, Lorelei, do you want me to walk you to walk you back to your room?" Specs asked, getting up also.

A look of fear crossed Lorelei's face, but she nodded. "Thanks, Specs." Specs smiled and knew that Lorelei would call her that nickname forever now.

"Alright, let's go," She headed for the door. "I'll be back, Krayonder."

"See ya," he smiled. As Specs closed the door behind her, she held her finger to her lips to motion for Lorelei to be quiet.

"We don't want to wake anyone up," she whispered in her sister's ear. They walked in silence down the halls, Lorelei in the lead, until they reached a door about five minutes later. It was open from when she had run out to find Specs.

"Thanks, Specs. I'm sorry I disturbed you and Krayonder," Lorelei sighed.

"Thats okay... Just, relax. You're just a bit uncomfortable on here instead of with Mom and Dad. Goodnight," Specs sighed. Lorelei smiled and closed the door. As Specs walked back to her room, she remembered that Lorelei used to have nightmares like that all the time as a little girl. Maybe not so much had changed about her... At least she definatly liked Krayonder. Specs smiled and, once she was back in her room, she fell asleep comfortably against Krayonder.


	4. Learning To Zap

Learning to Zap

The next three days went by without much excitement. Lorelei didn't have any more nightmares, and she was calling Specs by the right nickname. Tootsie forgot how to use his zapper again, and as Krayonder was teaching him how to use it, Specs decided to have a bit of fun with Lorelei.

"Okay, so you hold the zapper like _this_, and press this button here, and aim for that target. Got it?" Specs asked, demonstrating by sending a green blast at the white and red holographic target. As her shot went through, a wave went through the hologram that made Lorelei giggle.

"You're sure Up said it was okay I'm doing this?" she asked uncertainly, holding her own zapper just like Specs had showed her.

"Yes. He said it was fine, as long as you don't hurt anyone," Specs smiled. "Speaking of which, it's _that_ button." Lorelei aimed the gun and pushed the button. A jet of blue light shot from the end and went right through the center of the target.

"Wow! Specs, did you see that? Bulls-eye! Woo!" Lorelei cheered.

"Nice, man. You're learning faster than Tootsie over here," Krayonder called over from his station with Tootsie. "No, it's _this_ one, how many times do I have to tell you?"

Specs and Lorelei laughed. "Okay, now I'm going to show you the different settings on the zapper." Lorelei's eyes widened with excitement.

"Okay, so the one you just used is called 'pew'. There's also 'zap', 'explode', 'blend', 'liquefy', and-"

"Wait, 'blend', and 'liquefy'? Those sound like blender settings. Are those really settings?" Lorelei giggled.

"Really. Look, here, see the little labels?" Specs pointed to the little words by the dial, and Lorelei laughed harder.

"Which one can I use first?" Lorelei held her zapper, ready for fire. Specs demonstrated each of the different settings. For 'zap', the hologram split in two. For 'explode', the target burst apart. For 'blend', the target swirled in on itself, vanishing. And for 'liquefy', the hologram turned to a liquid on the ground.

"Cool! Specs, you have the coolest job ever!" Lorelei jumped up and down, and then shot a few blasts at the target. That meant a lot to Specs. Her sister had never said anything like that to her. Specs smiled.

"Thanks. Speaking of cool jobs, what do you want to be, Lorelei? When you get older?" Specs asked, knowing it couldn't be the same as when she was ten. Specs could practically see the Lorelei jumping up and down as a ten-year-old and saying she wanted to be a space queen.

"Me? Well, for a long time, I didn't know. But coming up here and seeing you has made me realize what I want to be. I wanna be a Starship Ranger!" She said proudly. Specs couldn't have been more proud of her sister.

"Lorelei…. I'm so happy you said that. Well, I think we've earned ourselves a break, don't you?" Specs asked as Lorelei.

"Thank you! Finally! Awesome, Tootsie! Let's go, Specs," Krayonder said as Tootsie finally fired a zapper. He grabbed Specs and Lorelei and ushered them out into the hall.

"Man, can we get something to eat? I missed breakfast because Tootsie," Krayonder asked, his mouth practically watering. Lorelei nodded in agreement and Specs laughed. Krayonder put his arm around her and they walked to the cafeteria together. Once there, they each got a plate full of cheese and crackers and sat down at their usual table.

"So, Lorelei, you like using the zapper? What's your favorite setting? Personally, I like 'pew'," Krayonder asked Lorelei. She nodded vigorously and swallowed her cracker.

"I like 'liquefy'!" Lorelei laughed. "It reminds me of a smoothie!" Specs and Krayonder laughed.

"True that," Krayonder giggled. "You know, I might miss you once you leave to go back home."

"I'm totally going to miss you, Krayonder! Especially you, Specs! Promise you'll video call us more often! Please?" Lorelei smiled.

"Of course I will," Specs said to possibly the biggest smile Lorelei had ever given her. "I'm going to miss you so much once you go home!"

"Well, let's not worry about that now!" Lorelei persisted, and they laughed.

It seemed all too soon that Specs's parents came two days later to pick up Lorelei. With all the tears, you would think they were never going to see each other again. As Specs and her parents talked, they looked over to Krayonder, standing alone and looking sad.

"What's wrong?" Specs asked, walking over to him and taking his hand.

"I'm sad, man," he said. When Specs looked confused, he elaborated. "I kinda liked having your sister around. She's funny and reminds me of you sometimes."

"Aww," Specs laughed. He looked at her with those puppy dog eyes of his. "You'll still get to see her! Like I promise, I'm going to video call them more often."

"Good," Krayonder smiled. He looked over to Lorelei, who was now showing her parents how Specs had taught her to use the zapper. She looked over to Specs and gave her a thumbs-up. Specs returned it, and Krayonder put his arm around her. They walked over and Specs's parents began to talk to Krayonder, while Lorelei went around the crew, saying bye to all of them for the fifteenth time.

"Arthur!" Specs's mom said to her father. He had just told Krayonder that if he ever wronged his Julia, he would be having a meeting with one of those zappy-thingys. Krayonder and Specs had just laughed and Krayonder assured her father that he would not be treating her wrong in any way.

Five minutes later, after a tearful hug from Lorelei and Specs, her parents and her little sister were on their ship and outside the air-lock doors. Specs could just barely see Lorelei's smiling face through the glass. She was mouthing something.

"What's she saying?" Krayonder asked as he stared also. Specs smiled as she figured out what the words were.

"I wanna be a Starship Ranger," Specs said, laughing. The ship launched off and Specs and Krayonder hand in hand, walked off toward the cafeteria.

"You know," Specs smiled, "maybe Lorelei and me aren't so different after all."


End file.
